Many people turn to woodworking these days for enjoyment, to relieve stress, and the fulfillment of making a unique and interesting expression of their creativity. One area of woodworking is in making small functional handles, such as for pens. For example, a pen is often formed by combining a pen nib, lower and upper barrels, a pen transmission and a pen cap or pen clip with a stylistically turned pen blank. Small functional handle kits are provided from suppliers but require the craftsman to combine the mating parts using a compression device, such as an arbor press or other such means.
The creation of functional handles comes from blanks, which are often intricate and with decorative coverings, and are often machined or turned on a lathe. They are often made of wood or other generally workable non-wood material which contains an interesting visual pattern. The blank is often worked to form the handle portion of an item. The combining of a handle portion, which is often hollow, with the mating parts of a handle kit forms a functional handle for pens, laser pointers, whistles, mechanical pencils, magnifying glasses, small bottles and the like.
The craftsman prepares the blank by drilling or boring a hole through the blank, then shaping or turning the blank with the inserted pen-tube on a lathe or other apparatus to define the outward shape or appearance of the blank in an artful way. Usually a small resilient tube, called a pen-tube, is successfully secured into a handle portion. The pen tube forms a receiving means for the mating parts contained in a pen assembly kit. Mating parts can include a wide combination of items that are typically press-fitted together. For example, a pen kit can include a pen nib which is pressed into a pen-tube within a handle portion, or a pen-clip and a pen-tube combined with a handle portion. The mating parts are not restricted only to those parts that make a pen, but may contain parts used to press-fit any useful object to the handle.
Pen-tube is a term generally used to mean a tube, usually metallic, which is inserted and glued into the blank. Most pen assembly kits utilize a 7 mm pen-tube size, but the present invention can accommodate different barrel diameters by using different size bushings on the mandrel. The pen-tubes are also used to provide a means for attaching the blank to another object such as to an end of a magnifying glass, or to house a mechanism for a pen or mechanical pencil or other such item. It is not restricted only to making a pen, but may be any useful object requiring a substantially hollow handle.
Various methods for assembling the functional handle are available; for example using a percussive tool, such as a mallet, to drive the mating parts together. This method can be quite crude, resulting in misadjusted and broken parts.
Another method is to use a stand alone arbor press. Arbor presses for this purpose are commercially available. One shortcoming is that they do not function integrally with a lathe and must be used in a separate operation. This requires yet another tool to further crowd the craftsman's already crowded work space. Arbor presses are based on a lever arm that can lack the sensitive control required during the press-fitting process with motion that is not always linear or aligned for compression. The clamps and arms of the arbor press often become twisted, causing inconsistent compression pressure, resulting in a poorly press-fitted handle.
The current methodology features a pen assembly tool which can be used in conjunction with the lathe tailstock receiver and hand-wheel to press the various mating parts together, thus eliminating the need for a specialized tool such as the arbor press. This handle assembly tool aligns all the mating parts along the centerline of the functional handle to ensure accurate alignment and assembly.
Furthermore, most lathe tailstock quills are operated on a screw principle which is much more finely controlled than a simple press. Therefore the pen assembly tool allows for very accurate control of the press fitting process. Another advantage being that assembly can be done with need for a separate press by using the same lathe that is used to form the turning blank.
The pen assembly tool is comprised of a mounting head and a compressing head. Which are interchangeably fixable to the tailstock or headstock of the lathe. Although preferably used in conjunction, those familiar with the art will easily recognize the functionality of the pen assembly tool in using only one of the components upon a headstock or tailstock, or used in combination with other assembly means.
It is therefore an advantage of the invention to function integrally with a lathe;
It is another advantage of the invention to allow flexibility of use on a lathe, whereupon either the mounting head or compressing head can be attached to either the headstock or tailstock of the lathe;
It is another advantage of the invention to use the functionality of the lathe tailstock or headstock to press fit mating parts together;
It is another advantage of the invention to align all mating parts to ensure accurate alignment and assembly;
It is another advantage of the invention to allow the user very accurate control of the press fitting process;
It is another advantage of the invention that pen tool assembly can be accomplished using the same lathe used to create the individual mating parts;
It is another advantage of the invention to incorporate a plurality of O-rings along the coupling end to ease the insertion and removal of the mounting head and compressing head upon the lathe, without use of external tools.
It is another advantage of the invention that the mounting head and compressing head both accommodate a shoulder, which enhances alignment along the center axis of the lathe during press-fitting.